Introduction
Electronic-commerce has changed lives and its effect on the pace at which businesses are conducted all over the world today. Consequently, electronic commerce has its own pros and cons. Essentially; e-commerce is about the use of internet to conduct business which includes purchasing and selling of goods and services. It has also been used in marketing, advertisement, and public relations between people, companies, corporations and organizations. It creates awareness and provides free information to clients. It has increased awareness and has endowed better judgment to clients. The world wide website (WWW) has been used to connect the producer, supplier, consumer and the government. E-commerce is an integral infrastructure that any other banking system should inaugurate. The centrality of this project is to explore the appraisal considerations that encompass the integration of e-commerce websites in banking systems (Schneider, Gary, P., 2004).
Factors to Consider
When creating an ecommerce website, one should take into consideration what his business is about. This should lead one into getting a domain name. A domain name should be got by the company and should focus on what it markets or what the company is about. For example if a company sells paintings then its domain name could be www.mypainting.co.uk. Then one should obtain web space from hosting companies. Web space is space on a computer owned by a hosting company. Most hosting companies rent web space to companies that need it at a certain fee per year. Photos and images concerning the company are posted and linked. The domain name is registered online and this is done by the same hosting company (Schneider, Gary, P., 2004).
While designing a website, several factors should be taken into consideration. Since most websites are designed for clients/ users it should be designed to be user friendly. The speed of accessing this website should be fast. This can be achieved by reducing the size of files, avoiding big graphics and images. Speed can also be improved by use of cascading style sheets and much of it should be put into hypertext makeup language. The web pages designed should match the pages used in advertising in the media. The technical element of writing using Java script should also be taken into account.
Navigation should be made easy by consistently arranging files according to their importance and making them clear. Web accessibility is important and it should cater for people with mild problems like colour blindness, poor eyesight, blindness. There should be tools that fit all clients. Those that are physically impaired deaf & blind should have navigation tools that make accessibility easy (Rorbert, K., 1997).
It is advisable to set computer resolutions at a minimum of 640×480 pixels and a maximum of 1280×1024 pixels. Colour used should match. It should not be overcrowded. Headlines should be highlighted to increase visibility. Fonts of adequate size should be used so that the users should not strain to read. The language of expression should be easy to understand and should not be offensive. When implementing an e-commerce website, human factor should be considered. Though most companies consider minimizing the costs involved in making a website, they fail to recognize usability of the website by the end user. It should be marketable and accepted by the end user. It should increase efficiency of user interface design. The experience earned by the user is the major key to achieving its acceptability. Every company should have a webmaster that will update the website on the latest information on a regular basis (Awad, Elias, M., 2004).
To make the banks website popular, the use of emails, posters and flyers to advertise should be embedded on the site. The bank should also consider user experience and what their comments are about it. Post sales support should be offered. Banks will therefore be required to offer incentive discounts to increase its earnings. Questions asked frequently should be taken into consideration. Email addresses of the be listed should also be provided for easy contact by the clients (Rorbert, K., 1997).
The banks website should be encrypted or rather secured by employing passwords. This can be got by clients after they call the bank’s customer care service. Hackers provide a major threat to the existence and efficiency of websites. Some hackers may post error messages as part of dirty campaigns to scare away clients. Since websites are open to anyone other banks could provide the same service or products at lower prices reducing their profits. Breeching of security of clients should not be done though most of them cannot pass their credit card details. Most companies have used so much money to protect their websites from corporate espionage and hackers.
A domain name that focuses on the banks deals with functions so imperative. People accessing the website do not have to go through a hard time looking for what they want. An example is youtube.com. Its domain name ‘youtube’ has helped with marketing because it is designed for airing anyone’s views. This name is memorable and personal to some level (Korper, S., 2002).
On the positive side, ecommerce has increased sales for most companies because placing orders is fast. Information is easily accessible to clients. The society has become more informed due to increased awareness. Literacy levels have increased because of the eagerness of many to learn more from the websites. Suppliers and customers of the company have more information and can get their services and goods fast. Operation capital of most companies especially in marketing and advertising has been reduced.
Summary
With the paradigm shift that is inclined towards embracing modern infrastructures of doing business, inaugurating e-commerce sites in a bank would enhance its global presence and as a result give the financial institution a competitive bargain across the global market. This would lead to colossal earnings and enhance the portfolio stability.
References
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